ORGANS OF REPRODUCTION. 123 



The neck l is not always distinctly marked as a 

 part separate from the radicle ; but when it is remark- 

 able, it forms the crown of the radicle and the base of 

 the seed-lobe, and it is by the lengthening of the neck 

 that the seed-lobes are raised above the ground, as in 

 the cabbage, radish, and mustard. Dr. Yule considers 

 it analogous in wheat to the base of the bulb in lilies 

 and other bulbs. 



To consider the neck with Lamarck as the life knot, 

 and with Treviranus to call it the centre of vegetation, 

 is as fanciful as the notion of Mr. Main, that vegetable 

 life is a distinct member of a plant situated between 

 the pulp bark, and the pulp wood. Life, as De Candolle 

 justly remarks, is diffused through every part of a 

 plant, and the neck is only the point of junction of the 

 root and the stem. 



The gemlet 2 , or, as it has been termed, the plume or 

 plumelet, is a small body, often formed like a feather, 

 situated in the cavity between the seed-lobes, when 

 there is but one; and between the lobes when there 

 are two. It is the first bud, in fact, from which all 

 the parts of the plants above ground are progressively 

 evolved. It is often so small as to escape observation. 

 It is in all cases nourished by the seed-pulp, contained 

 in the seed-lobes or beside them, and these are pre- 

 vented from adhering to it by a very fine pellicle. Like 

 the radicle, the gemlet is also at first inclosed in a 

 sheath 3 . 



(1) In Latin, Collum or Cauliculus, or, as Treviranus terms it, 

 Centrum Vegetationis. 



(2) In Latin, Gemmula, or Plumula. (3) In Latin, Coleoptilon. 



